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June 26, 2024 11 mins

One of New Zealand's favourite non-New Zealand sporting events is back on tonight - State of Origin 2!

Queensland are 1-0 up in the series so far, so they could wrap it up for a third straight year tonight.

Former Maroon and former Warrior Steve Price spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk ahead of the match.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncie Wildergrave
from News Talk Z'B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're joining it now by Steve Price, a former New
Zealand Warriors, one Warriors, Penrose Warriors, whatever you want to
call them, Skipper of course Bulldogs player as well, and
he played for Queensland and he played for Kangaroos. He's
rather handy, is our Stephen Price. Looking forward to tonight
and I'm sure that is the understatement, Steve, Welcome to
the show. Let's face it, come midnight tonight, it could

(00:36):
be sealed and two for Queensland.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Absolutely, mate, huge game in an iconic stadium mcg so.
I think it's probably a little bit more favorite towards
Queensland because either most of Victoria lives in Queensland or
they support Queensland.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
So crowd means that much, even though it's a so
called neutral venue.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well there's ninety five thousand there, mate, So you know,
if the majority of going for one team, I reckon,
that's going to be a pretty good, you know, pretty
good extra man, I reckon. We've a bit of pressure
on the referees, most of them we wouldn't know what
the rules are but hopefully most of them will and
they'll be able to get behind the mighty Queenslanders.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
What you're talking about the referees or the fans.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
No, the referees. Of course they know the rules mate, absolutely, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Going to say that was pretty brave for you.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Where's the winning and the losing of the gam do
you thing just rolling it back to what happened last
time around? Is we think you can pull out of
that game, Steve, that you think might make the difference
for you the team?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, well, other than the player getting sent off, I
think it's going to be key with field position, so
you know whoever's going to be able to be in
the attacking field position more than coming out of trouble.
Field position is certainly going to be a better chance
of scoring tries, which and puts the other team under
president to try and defend right, So not making errors,
not given penalties away, making it really difficult for your

(01:55):
opposition all night is going to be the key. And
New South Wales I picked the team that's quite a large,
quite a big team and looks like they're going to
try and bully it, so you know they're going to
hope that they're going to be in goodball sort of
position more than what they are coming out of trouble,
and hopefully we've got obviously the speed and fever the
skill there, so if we can be in attacking positions,

(02:18):
hopefully that's going to really cause problems for the for
the Blues all night.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Rees Walsh obviously targeted last time around, hardly ideal. I
do believe he was targeted and what's likely to happen
this time around They're going to carry on aiming at him.

Speaker 5 (02:32):
Yeah, I don't know if he was targeted.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
May he was just run on the foot and Blake
come in and made a tackle and it just went wrong.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
So I didn't think he was targeted.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
You know, there was a talk before the game that
I'm going to target him, but that's not why I
got knocked out. My biggest thing for a Reese a
little bit of a question mark is he hasn't played
since that game. Hopefully he's just going to be Reese
Walsh and he's not going to be a bit gunshot
because you know, I was a pretty big shot and
it's a physical game in state of Origin. I'm sure
your South Wales is going to let him know he

(03:00):
won't forget where he's playing in state of origin. So yeah,
if we can sort of be like I was saying before,
in that good field position, he's going to be running
out of sort of a round half way rather than
trying to catch bombs on his tryline or you know,
getting wacked really hard as he catches it. So the
better position we can be, the better it's going to
help Reese, and hopefully Reese is going to get a

(03:21):
plenty of opportunities with the footing and his speed.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
But is he likely to be gun shy from what
you know of them or just chuck himself in regardless?

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, I don't know him real well, but the way
I see him play footy, I would say that he's
not really gun. So he's got a lot more carriage
in what I had as a ball player. Anyway, he
has a crack mate, whether he thinks it's going to
work or not, backs himself. So that's why he's the
player he is, and that's why we're very happy he's
our number one.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Steve Price joins the program a few changes with the
Blues kind of understand that as well. After that start
to manage McGuire head as his new South Wales coach,
so he's rung the changes and I suppose the big ones.
Latrell Mitchell, this guy, we never quite know what he's
going to turn up with. How do your rate what
he's going to do this time around.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, you know he's been out of the Origin scene
for a couple of years now and fantastic player or
you know, awesome player, but if we can have the
ball more than what they do. He's not a real
fan of defending. You'd rather run the footy. His effort
on effort probably isn't as good as what you know
it could be. Particularly he's been playing fullback for the
last three years, so he's not used to being in

(04:26):
that front line defense, having to make twenty thirty forty
tackles a game, you know, having to make decisions defensively.
He's been protected a little bit at South because he's
been at fullback. So he was one of the best
centers in the game when he was playing center, but
he hasn't played for probably three years, so it's going
to be new for him. But I'm sure he's prepared
really well. And the other positions that were all the

(04:46):
changes that were made, Mate, most of those guys that
have come in were their first choice anyway, and they
were rather injured or didn't have enough game time under
their belt, so you know Moses was probably going to
be chosen over Nico and then mckinnis got the start
because Cam Murray was injured, so the trail comes in
for the suspended Suali. So I wouldn't say that they're

(05:08):
gone and wheeled the acts. It's been more that's their
team they were going to choose to start with if
they could have, but those players were injured.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
Now they're available.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Lot to admire though about New South Wales after basically
being absolutely haught at the start when Sally got seen off.
They showed a bit of a bit of heart, didn't they,
which is what you'd expect, but just they can't do that.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
Twelve against thirty never works.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Not not in league, and you know they did show
plenty of heart, but at the end of the day,
you know, we've got to be good enough to take
the opportunities and we're able to do that in a period.
They then have made some changes which we found a
little bit more difficult and it made it a real
struggle and particularly getting out of their trouble and that
type of thing, so you know, then we're able to

(05:53):
identify that and then we've got a couple of tries late.
So I was really happy with how Queen's done did
what they did. New South Wales absolutely brave. Their fans
certainly wouldn't have been disappointed with what they put out
on the field. And that's what State of origins about, mate.
You know, and give up just because you've got twelve
men and they've got thirteen. You know, there's been plenty
of times when teams are won in that situation. Just

(06:13):
sort of seventy three minutes of it makes it a
little bit hard.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Is there a match up that you're really excited about.
I'm presuming it's up the front somewhere like a carrying
Haas situation.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Where do you think that.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
I suppose the big matchup is from your point of
view and the one you're looking forward to most.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Steve, Yeah, Well, Kaigan and Murray, for example, they're two
very different players. They play a different style. Paddy, particularly
in Origin is more run first and passed, whereas when
he plays for the Broncos he's more passed and then run,
so he changes his game completely which really works for
us in Queensland. Kim Murray, he's more of a ball
runner and then does a bit of passing as well.

(06:51):
Obviously up front, you know Collins and then you've got
Kauwaki coming off the bench and you know those sort
of guys. You know that's going to be really tough
against Hassen and these sort of guys from USAID Wales.
But I really think the big challenge is going to
be on the edges. Like the background was, We've got
nan Eye and Sewer and then you know New South Wales,
I've got Martin. They're really good players and you know

(07:13):
they're going to really make sure that those guys get
plenty of footy and try and cause some real damage
on the edges.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
You know it's half backs, five eights that are defending.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Around that area, haven't They got Crichton on the other.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
End, he's been playing outstanding mate and he had a
really good first game, so yeah, and he does he
terrorizes both of the Martin and Crichton by terrorized the.

Speaker 5 (07:36):
Half back or the five eight for the opposition.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
You know who we got little Tommy and obviously Daily,
so they're going to have to be right on there
on their guard and hopefully New South Wales is the
same situation you're going to have to be with Moses
and Law.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, what about Cape, Well, do you think he's going
to have much to do with the price of it
and the way things work. I mean, we've got Mitch Barnett,
who's the eighteenth man for the Blues. There's a couple
of Warriors involved, which we are quite interested in.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, it's rare for a news when they're playing for
the Warriors, but yeah, certainly we've had a lot of Queenslanders.
It'll be really interesting mat how Billy wants to play it,
whether he wants to leave Kurt there for a just
in case, or he wants to get him out there
around the twenty minute mark to thirty minute mark, and
then if something happens then he can sort of adjust
it when he's on the field. So I suppose it's

(08:21):
just going to depend on how the game starts, what
we have to do reaction wise, if there's any injuries,
or you know, if we've been defending for a long
time and he's got to make changes. But I'd expect
that he try and hold him, probably just before halftime
or just after halftime.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
Hopefully we don't have any injuries in our outside backs.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Want something to smile about for wise fans because there
are two players involved. Well, kind of in origin, but
back home with the Warriors. He scraped your head after
a sixty six six thrashing at the hands of the Titans.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
That was something else. As a former skipper, what did
you make of that?

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Yeah, I couldn't believe it, mate, when I was looking
at it, and particularly at the Gold Coast. You know,
we always played really well there because you know, I
care where's live on the Gold Coast, so it was
almost like a home game to see that. I was
really surprised. I'm really excited this weekend, mate, I'm flying
out for the old boys game up against the Broncos.
So hopefully being an old boys game, boys will be

(09:15):
one embarrassed from the weekend and then two, you know,
really want to put a show on for all the
old boys that are going to be there on Sunday,
you know, shout out nostalgia and get back to where
they should be and where they know they are.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
You're not that old, mate, do you still fit one
of your jumpers?

Speaker 5 (09:31):
Definitely not exaintly the first ones when we Timpty was
our coach.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
As just on that there's been no real changes, a
couple of tweaks around this team. From your experience, and
you've had plenty of it. Steve's is this the best
way for Enjie Weeps to go to say, listen, guys,
you made that mess.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
You dig your way out of it.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
It's your responsibility as opposed to maybe wielding the acts.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Not necessarily, you know, digue out of it. It's more
of a respect and a pride thing.

Speaker 5 (10:01):
Mate.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
All of those guys that played on the weekend would
be really disappointed and pretty and they would have felt
as though they let down their fans and family and
sponsors in the club and coach and everybody. And there's
no better way to then get back out on the
field and turn around, right. All those guys that played
are guys that he's had now for a year and
a half. You know, he's got to know them really well.

(10:24):
They've got to understand how he wants them to play.
It doesn't always go that way. You know, you've got
opposition you're up against. Sometimes they do things that makes
it hard for you to play the way you want
to play, So no better way for those guys to
get out on the field and show faith in the
coach that he trusts them, he believes in them. And
then also for the boys to repay you know, everyone

(10:46):
who supports them and comes along every week and get
back out on there on the field and turn it
around against the Broncos team that you know, they're sort
of not in flying form at the moment either, so
they're going to be wanting to turn that around also,
so a big game for both.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
You're a carcus Steve Price.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Always good to hear your voice mate, safe travels when
you get over here and go and try and squeeze
that first jersey idea.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
Why would be a good look, Bros? Not a good look?

Speaker 1 (11:13):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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